A Soul for a Soul
by Belle Schuyler
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS: Natasha and Gamora meet in the Soul World during the events of Avengers: Endgame.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Natasha groaned as she forced her eyes open, clouding her vision with a strange orange light.

"Clint?" She mumbled, struggling to turn onto her side.

Before she could properly sit up, she was forced back down by a strong force to her shoulder and had a blade pressed to her neck.

"Who are you?" a voice hissed from above.

As Nat's head cleared, she was able to focus on the face hovering inches from her own, which belonged to a gorgeous green woman with bright pink highlights and piercing brown eyes.

"I…I'm Natasha. And you are?"

"Who do you work for, Natasha?"

_Rule #1 of the Red Room? Never tell anyone who you're really working for. Especially total strangers._

"I'm with the Avengers. We're trying to stop Thanos."

All at once, the alien girl got off of Natasha and offered her a hand up, which she gladly took.

_Rule #2: Never trust anyone._

"If you're looking for Thanos, then what are you doing here?"

"I was kinda hoping you could tell me that."

The stranger's expression softened as she continued her questioning.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I was…" Natasha racked her brain, trying to focus on something, anything…

"On this big mountain, with my best friend. We were fighting for some reason, over…I don't know what."

"This friend, did they turn on you?"

"What? No! Clint would never…"

"Then why were you on that mountain? What made you fall?"

"I…fell?"

Her face lit up before slackening in horror.

"Oh, my god! Vormir, the Soul Stone!"

"Bingo. Tell me more."

Natasha's eyes pooled with repressed tears as she stared at an intangible floor of orange smoke.

"We were trying to keep each other from sacrificing ourselves, I…told him I had to do it."

The alien's mouth gaped, as if in awe.

"You…you volunteered?"

"He has a family. A future. I couldn't take that from him, not after all I've done."

The other girl nodded with an oddly knowing look in her eye. Natasha buried her face in her hands, barely managing to contain the sobs that were swelling throughout her body.

"I'm sorry. That must have been very difficult." The girl whispered, placing a cautious hand on her shoulder.

"I'm Gamora." She continued, extending her free hand. After a minute, Nat allowed her body to relax and took Gamora's hand in her own.

"You know, I'd say it's nice to meet you, but…"

Gamora laughed curtly. "Trust me, I get it. Probably better than anyone."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to be the only one in here, for about five years. And then you showed up."

"So, where are we?"

"I don't know. Some dimension of the Soul Stone, I guess."

"How did you get here?"

Gamora took a deep breath before continuing, like she was trying to brace herself. Her next words were said through gritted teeth, with a fury Natasha could only hope wasn't directed at her.

"Thanos killed me to get the Soul Stone. He took me to Vormir, and threw me off a cliff."

"That bastard."

"You're telling me." She responded with a rueful smirk.

"Wait…I think I remember now. Nebula told us about Vormir…about you."

Gamora smiled fondly. "You know Nebula?"

"Partially mechanical, but wholly terrifying?"

"That's her. She's my little sister."

"I bet you two make quite the pair."

"Oh, we did. We didn't always see eye to eye, though. But Thanos threatened to kill her if I didn't tell him where the stone is. I would have rather died than see her in that much pain."

"I guess we've got that in common."

The two assassins shared a knowing smile.

"I think we're going to get along just fine, Natasha. Follow me, I'll show you around."


	2. I'll See You Again

Synopsis: Takes place immediately after Bruce snaps his fingers with the Stark gauntlet in Endgame.

**Chapter Two: I'll See You Again**

Bruce snapped his fingers, the sound of clinking metal echoing through his ears as a sharp pain spread throughout his entire body. He felt himself hit the floor before the pain subsided, leaving him perfectly numb. A strange orange fog surrounded him as far as he could see, until his vision focused on the form of two women in conversation, their backs turned to him.

One of them almost looked like…

"Nat?" He whispered groggily.

"Hi, Bruce." Nat whispered with a shy smile.

"I thought you - they said that you…Oh my god…" He babbled, his mind racing as he pulled his love into his arms. (It was then he noticed that he had reverted back to his less green, human form.)

"It's okay. We're okay." She said sweetly, pulling him closer to her.

"Nat. I hate to rush this, but you don't have much time." Said the second woman, who had green skin, purple hair, and an impressive sword hanging from a holster around her waist.

"Right." Nat nodded, before turning back to Bruce and taking both of his hands in hers. That fire that he so loved in her was burning behind her eyes.

"I need you to listen very carefully to me, okay? I did what I did so we can _end. this. thing_. I'll be back soon enough, but only if everything goes as planned. Don't let them take me for granted."

"I won't, Nat. I swear."

"I know." She smiled again before bringing him back into her arms. He gave her a long, passionate kiss before he was forced to pull away by a pounding ache in his head.

"It's time." Gamora said, looking at Nat sympathetically.

"I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay." Bruce said, attempting to suppress the pain returning to his physical form. "I love you."

"I love you too, Bruce. So much."

At that, he was thrust out of the Soul World and back into the Avengers Facility, his teammates looking concernedly down at him.


	3. A Shot in the Dark

**Chapter Three: A Shot in the Dark**

As Bruce's body faded away, a dam burst inside Natasha, causing her to collapse into sobs. Gamora ran over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist to help her stand up.

"You'll be okay." She whispered, as Nat gently rested her head on her shoulder. "We both will. I…I had someone like that, too."

"What are they like?" Nat asked through a sniffle, grateful for a distraction from her grief.

"He's a huge dork." Gamora smiled despite herself. "He loves music, and dancing, and…I've never had anyone make me that happy before."

"That's exactly how I feel about Bruce. With him, I was…part of a team. Part of a _family._"

"I know." Gamora sympathetically rubbed Nat's shoulder. "All the more reason to find a way to get out of here."

"Right. So, is there any way to send a message to anyone? I don't suppose there's a postal service here."

"Not exactly. The only thing I've been able to find, is this…" Gamora moved her right hand in a circular motion, sending off hot yellow sparks from her palm. "Damn it."

"I hate to be a downer, but that's not exactly impressive." Nat teased with what could almost be considered a smile.

Gamora rolled her eyes jokingly before trying again. "Sometimes it takes me a few tries…here."

After a few more attempts, she created a glowing, circular ring.

"What does that do, exactly?"

"It's a portal."

"But, it looks exactly the same. Is it to somewhere else in the Soul World?"

"No, another dimension! Look closer."

Nat turned her head to peer in, and she locked eyes with…

"Wanda?!"

The Scarlet Witch was sitting leisurely with her legs crossed as she aimlessly braided her hair.

"She can't hear me?"

Gamora shook her head. "My guess is that we can't communicate between dimensions. We can see into them, but we can't go through them."

"What do you mean?"

"The only people in there are victims of the Thanos's snap. I opened another portal once, and I..." her throat caught before she could continue. "I saw my parents. The people of my home world."

"But that's good, right? If these things act like a window, then we must be able to make a door somehow."

"Exactly."

Before they could continue, an unfamiliar (though not unattractive) man strolled by them in the portal, awkwardly dancing along to whatever music was pouring out of his headphones.

"Check this guy out."

"That would be my Peter."

"You sure can pick 'em." Nat joked with a good-natured elbow to Gamora's side.

"Yeah. I can." She responded, with the most genuine smile that Nat had ever seen from her.


	4. Whatever it Takes

**Chapter Four: Whatever it Takes**

"Nat, come on. It's starting."

Gamora and Natasha stood in front of a new portal, watching Steve, Tony, and Thor approach the Mad Titan in the ruins of the Avengers Facility. They watched the fight with bated breath, cheering their team on silently and persistently.

"Is that you?" Nat asked later, gesturing to her doppelgänger fighting alongside Nebula.

"Technically, yes. Me from an alternate reality."

"This multiverse thing is weird."

"You're not kidding."

Soon after, portals similar to the ones they were looking through began appearing all over the battlefield. And out walked...

"Wanda?" Nat whispered through a hoarse throat.

"Guys?"

They stared out in awe, not daring to believe what they were seeing.

"My God. They did it!"

"We did it!"

They threw their arms around each other in a celebratory hug.

"Avengers...assemble." Steve growled, leading the charge against Thanos's army.

"Yeah!" They cheered, watching their team members, new and old and unfamiliar, run at the Mad Titan.

A short while later, they saw Peter Parker hand the gauntlet off to Carol Danvers.

"Don't worry." Wanda assured.

"She's got help." Okoye continued.

The three women led the charge to Thanos, followed by Pepper, Mantis, Nebula, and more.

"That's my sister!" exclaimed Gamora by Nat's side.

"And my sister!" Nat added, watching Wanda with pride.

The fight went on and on, each success more definitive than the last, until finally...

"I am inevitable." Thanos snarled, raising his hand to snap again.

"No!" The two screamed in unison, reaching out as if to somehow prevent what would happen next.

They froze in fear, which faded into shock as the gauntlet made a dull, chilling echo as the metal clanked together lifelessly.

Tony approached the fallen god, hand held up in the same fashion with the infinity stones gleaming under his use. His teeth were bared and his expression was resolute.

"And I...am...Iron Man."


	5. Don't Say it's Over

**Chapter Five: Don't Say it's Over**

Natasha and Gamora were barely able to pull their gaze away from the portal before they were interrupted by a grunt and the distinct sound of a body collapsing to the ground.

"Tony!" Nat exclaimed, both of them rushing over to prop him up. Her shaking hand came away slick and dripping red. "No, please..."

"This shouldn't be happening, not here. You can't maintain your physical form like this..." Gamora stated, looking around desperately as if there was something she could use to help him.

"He...he's fading, isn't he?"

Gamora gave her a sorrowful glance before bending down and placing a gentle hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Stark? Thank you for saving my sister."

He made a noise that was a mix between a gruff chuckle and a yelp of pain.

"She saved me, more accurately. I just served as eye candy for the ride home."

"You're a hero, Tony." Nat said steadily, her gaze warm as she squeezed his hand.

"I guess we both are." He mumbled, struggling to meet her eyes.

Tony winced again, barely able to keep himself from crumbling into ashes.

"Hey, Auntie Nat? Do me a favor, and keep an eye on my Morguna for me once you get back."

"You know I will, Tony."

He mustered a smile, and reached out to genially grasp Nat's shoulder before he disappeared.

Nat sighed deeply, heartbrokenly, trying to justify the injustice of it all.

"He just saved the entire universe as we know it. His sacrifice will not be in vain." Gamora said with a decisive nod.

"No. And neither will ours." Nat agreed, removing the twin blades from the holsters at her sides.


	6. Don't Bullshit Me, Rogers

**Chapter Six: Don't Bullshit Me, Rogers**

After Tony's disappearance, Nat and Gamora started creating new portals, windows to alternate dimensions and realities, with a renewed vigor.

"Hey, Gamora? What do you make of this one?" Nat called.

She approached from behind, as Nat showed her a scene of SHIELD Director Peggy Carter leaning in to kiss a handsome, unrecognizable man as he bounced a curly brown-haired baby on his hip. But before their lips could touch, the scene disintegrated into ash.

"That's Captain America's old flame." Nat explained. "She must have moved on after he disappeared, but why can't we see the rest of this timeline?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone tried to alter it?"

"But...who would do that?"

"Natasha?"

Nat's head jerked towards the sound of the new voice, which belonged to Steve Rogers.

"Steve?" Nat whispered in awe and confusion. "What are you doing here?"

He wrapped his arms around her as she leaned into her friend's familiar, sturdy build.

"They sent me to return the stones. But I'm going back, Nat. To be with her. With Peggy." He explained with a proud smile.

Nat pulled away from his embrace and stared him down with a strange look in her eyes.

"So that's it? You're just going to saunter off into some...blissful oblivion?"

"I guess so." Steve replied with a shrug. Nat's mouth gaped and her eyebrows furrowed with a quiet rage.

"That's ridiculous, Steve. Tony sacrificed his life for you, for all of us, and this is how you're going to repay him?"

"Frankly, Romanoff, I don't care what Stark thinks of me."

"Then what about me, huh? You really think I sacrificed myself so you could play house with Miss America? No. I did it so we could keep fighting, Steve. So I could maybe, just maybe, fulfill my purpose and do something good with my damn life."

"I'm sorry, Nat. I'm done fighting."

"Well, I'm not."

"You're telling me you wouldn't do the same thing with Bruce if you had the chance?"

"Don't you dare bring him into this."

"You would, and you know it."

"No, and you know why? Because we always chose the greater good over being together. It sucks. It really does. But it's part of our job, Steve."

"Not any more."

"I can't believe you."

"You don't have to."

"Well, once you're hiding behind your picket fence, maybe think of me stuck in purgatory every now and again, Rogers."

"Goodbye, Nat."

As Steve faded away, Nat stormed off towards Gamora, who had her arms crossed and her head cocked tentatively.

"What a prick."

"Yeah. He wasn't always that way. He was a bit self-righteous, sure. But I never thought he'd be this selfish."

"People change." Gamora said simply.

"And not always for the better."

She nodded sagely in agreement. "Well, the good news is, we don't need him anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"For some reason, he decided to return the Soul Stone first. So now we have a trace of all the other stones, including the Space Stone."

"Which is...good?"

"Better than good. The Space Stone lets you travel to any location in the universe, in any reality."

Nat's face lit up as she realized what Gamora was implying.

"It's our ticket out of here, Nat! We just have to gather its essence..."

She spun her hands together to form a small cyclone of orange fog, scanning for traces of the Space Stone. After a short moment, she was able to make her own. As the dainty blue rock fell into Gamora's hand, showering them both in a divine light, the two assassins shared a wide grin.


	7. Begin Again

**Chapter Seven: Begin Again**

The two assassins were thrown through space and time, finally landing on the ruins of an oddly familiar planet.

"We're on Morag." Nat stated confoundedly, looking at the barrenness that surrounded them.

Gamora nodded. "In 2023. It was one of the only places and times I could find that wouldn't mess with the fabric of reality."

"Do you still have them? The stones?"

She searched her person, breathing a sigh of relief when her pockets turned up empty. They must have been left behind in the now-empty Soul World.

"No. Good riddance."

"Hear, hear. So now what?"

"Now, we send out a message to my team. There's gotta be some abandoned houses around here, we can find something to make a communication device."

"I'm on it." Nat said, marching off purposefully as Gamora followed.

Finally, they arrived at a run down house where they were able to find spare parts of machinery. Nat went to work as Gamora ravaged for supplies.

"Can any of your team members understand Morse code?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say no."

"Alright, well that complicates things."

"How so?"

"It just...makes my life just a tiny bit more difficult. In that case, I'll uh...here!"

After tinkering for a little bit longer, she stepped away to reveal a rudimentary box of interconnected wires and knobs attached to a microphone.

"I know it's not much, but it saved my ass in Sokovia back in 2015."

"As long as it works."

Gamora stepped forward, fiddling with the knobs to find a signal, and spoke into the microphone.

"Guardians, come in. This is Gamora. Guardians, this is Gamora. Do you read me?"

"Gamora?!" Rocket said through the device. "Yeah, we read you, but what the hell are you doing on Morag?"

"I can explain a lot easier if you come pick me up."

"And how do we know we can trust you, that you're our Gamora?" Peter interjected.

"Peter..." Gamora took a deep breath before continuing. "I love you, more than anything."

The line was silent for a tense moment until Quill's voice returned, unsteady and hoarse. "I love you too."

Gamora broke into a teary smile as the roaring of her team's ship became audible overhead.

As it landed and the hatch opened, Gamora ran inside as Natasha lagged behind.

When she caught up and entered the ship, the Guardians had Gamora wrapped in a group hug. As they broke apart, Peter held onto her hands and lightly brought his forehead to hers.

"I thought I lost you."

"I'm back. And I plan to keep it that way." She whispered, kissing his forehead.

Nebula stood off to the side, meeting Gamora's eyes as she came away from Peter.

"Welcome home...sister."

She smiled as she pulled Nebula into another hug.

"So what are you going to do, now that it's all over?" Gamora asked.

"Well, I figured I'd stick around a little while longer. I've put up with these idiots for this long."

"They're your family now, too, Nebula."

"Yeah, for better or for worse." She ended with a shrug and the hint of a smile.

Natasha cleared her throat, awkwardly waving from the entrance of the Benotaur.

"Oh, everyone. This is Natasha, she was in the Soul World with me."

"We've met." Rocket said, returning her wave.

"Likewise." Nebula added, going over to wrap her arm around Natasha's shoulder and lead her into the ship.

Drax approached them ominously, his eyes searching hers. Nat suddenly felt her hand twitch to reach for one of her blades.

"Your sacrifice gave me my family back." He said finally, in a surprisingly soft tone. "And for that, I owe you my life."

"Well...anytime." Nat stammered.

"Where to, lady?" Peter called from the passenger seat.

"Uhh, New York City. On Terra."

"On it."

As everyone took their seats, Gamora made her way back over to Natasha.

"Off to see a certain doctor?"

Nat smiled.

"Yeah. And with Steve and Tony gone, someone has to take care of the Avengers."

"They'll be in good hands."

"You will come and visit, right?"

"Of course. Being stuck in limbo isn't something just anyone will understand."

"But being stuck with you? That wasn't half bad."

They shared a friendly laugh.

"You saved us, you know." Nat continued.

"We saved each other."

"And the world. No big deal."

"All in a day's work."


End file.
